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Cotter adopts Narcan policy for firefighters

SCOTT LILES, Baxter Bulletin
Published 10:30 p.m. CT July 27, 2018

The City of Cotter has adopted policies for its police and firefighters to use the opioid-blocking drug naloxone, which is commonly known by the brand name Narcan. Both police and firefighters will have to attend a training class before they are certified to use the drug in the field.(Photo11: Metro Nashville Police Department)

COTTER — Firefighters and police in Cotter now have a policy outlining how they will administer the opioid-blocking drug naloxone, commonly known under the brand name Narcan.

The Cotter City Council approved a resolution Thursday night adopting a naloxone policy for the city’s volunteer fire department. That policy is identical to the naloxone policy of the police department, which was adopted by the City Council last month.

Naloxone binds itself to the opiates in the patient and blocks the opiates’ effects on the body. In an emergency, it is administered to someone suspected of suffering an opioid overdose and is effective within a matter of minutes.

Having a naloxone policy is the first step towards equipping city employees or volunteers with the opioid-blocking drug. The policy outlines when the drug can be administered, how much can be used and what the administering person is d required to do afterwards.

The City of Cotter does not currently have any naloxone kits, but it is working with the University of Arkansas System’s Criminal Justice Institute to procure the drug for the city’s police and firefighters, Mayor Peggy Hammock said.

Both police and firefighters must attend a training class before they can carry the drug and administer it to someone.

In Baxter County, naloxone is carried by the Arkansas State Police, deputies with the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office, the Mountain Home Police Department and the Gassville Police Department. The drug is also carried in Baxter Regional Medical Center ambulances and EMTs with the Mountain Home Fire Department.

The Cotter Fire Department receives between 180 and 250 medical calls each year, and Fire Chief Cory Swartz estimated that the department had received eight calls so far in 2018 where naloxone could have been administered, he said.

The city presently has 11 firefighters and hopes to initially send six of them to be certified to use naloxone, Swartz said.

The Food and Drug Administration approved naloxone for opioid abuse treatment in 1971 and has long been a staple of emergency rooms and EMTs. Beginning in 1996, the drug was included in small opioid abuse kits carried by police and other emergency responders; the Centers for Disease Control estimates that over 26,000 cases of opioid overdoses have been revered using the kits.

Naloxone is the generic name of the drug. Some of the brand names for the drug include Narcan, Nalone, Evzio, Prenoxad Injection, Narcanti and Narcotan.